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Seeing Red: An Anti-Valentine’s Day Playlist

Valentine’s Day, Galentine’s Day, Palentine’s Day or whatever you call it, it’s here. The stores are stocked with candy hearts, chocolate roses, red and pink paper stock. Not everyone is into it. Whether you’re not in a relationship, freshly out of one, or just disinterested in all the day has to offer, here are some songs to listen to while everyone else is blasting Beyoncé “Countdown” and making dinner reservations. And as an added gift to you, you can download them all for free to play on your phone on the Trebel app.

1. “Dance Floor Anthem (I Don’t Want to Be in Love)”

Good Charlotte’s Good Morning Revival is a degree less edge-y than their 2004 record, The Chronicles of Life and Death. Despite the swing towards pop and decidedly less emo title, with it the band proved that they could mature in sound and still succeed. The album’s most memorable single, “Dance Floor Anthem,” may not be as good as “The Anthem,” off 2002’s The Young and Hopeless, but for the date-less and recently broken hearted, it’s an excellent listen.

2. “Caring Is Creepy”

This Shin’s track off 2001’s Oh, Inverted World is one of the band’s most well-known and beloved. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it was featured in Garden State, a genre-defining indie movie that will surely be played somewhere this Valentine’s Day. The soundtrack features not one but two Shins songs and with lines like “hiding the fact you’re dead again,” makes for a great addition to your misanthropic playlist.

3. “Love Song”

Although Sara Bareilles’ “Love Song” off of 2007’s Little Voice is about refusing to write a record label their cookie-cutter love song, it can easily be repurposed to suit your bitter, heartbroken self. It’s not hard to read lyrics like “And my heavy heart sinks deep down under you and your twisted words, / Your help just hurts / You are not what I thought you were” as more about a break-up and less about what gets played on the radio.

4. “Don’t”

A straight-up anti-love song from everyone’s favorite English ginger Ed Sheeran, “Don’t” is a must-listen this Valentine’s Day. It’s place on this list needs no justification. Whether it’s about Ellie Goulding or some other ex-girlfriend or whether One Direction was involved in the cheating scandal, the tune embodies everyone’s bitterness about this holiday.

5. F**k It

Before Taylor Swift and Jake were never, ever, ever getting back together, there was Eamon. His debut single off his equally aptly titled debut record I Don’t Want You Back, “F**k it” is another track that doesn’t waste time delivering its message. The hurt and hate that the song channels can be summed up with the line, “Fuck you, you hoe, I don’t want you back.” No mistaking what singer-songwriter Eamon means there.

6. “Girls & Boys”

A second emo anthem from Good Charlotte, “Girls &; Boys” is a quintessential love-is-stupid song. Off of the band’s best record, The Young and the Hopeless, the song suggests that although girls may not have cooties anymore, they’re still the worse. They prefer “cars and money” to real relationships. Good Charlotte concede that “boys” can be just as bad. They “will laugh at girls when they’re not funny” and are equally losing “their souls in a material world.”

7. “The Lazy Song”

Some people “don’t celebrate” or low-key hate Valentine’s Day for less direct reasons. They might not be newly broken-up with or broken hearted. Some people just don’t believe in the ~commercialization of relationships and see Valentine’s Day as an excuse to sell Hallmark cards. Whatever floats your love boat, Bruno Mars’ message of staying in and self-love is an important reminder for those who don’t want or need plans this V-Day.

8. Life After Love

There was a time before Cher was the Twitter-obsessed, one-word household name that she is now. As the pop duo Sonny & Cher, she climbed the charts and ruled the radio with her then husband. The relationship very publically exploded and now it’s hard to hear their single “I Got You Babe” and not lose faith in fidelity. If music industry power couples can’t make it, what hope is there for the rest of us? Well, if Cher can survive without Sunny, anything is possible if only we “believe in life after love.”

9. “Don’t Wanna Be In Love”

Off Green Day’s less memorable 2002 album Shenanigans, “Don’t Wanna Be In Love” is a return to their cheeky, fast-paced days before the band grew up and got a political agenda. This song is for anyone who as the songs says “ain’t no dog without a bone.” Who sees relationships as “problems” and a significant other as “leech.” It’s punk’s answer to “Single Ladies” that demands that some people “wanna sit here all my life alone.”

10. “Don’t Trust Me”

3OH!3, Colorado’s rapper (do they count as rappers?) duo, are known for their quirky, somewhat unexpected songs. A little immature, a little self-obsessed, their music sounds like if the Bloodhound Gang was in a fraternity. Off their debut Want, the song is a great example of the group’s boy-ish charm. With their “it’s not you, it’s me” message, “Don’t Trust Me” is a mixture of reckless behavior and whiskey.